Told by conductor not to board train with bike.

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snorri

Legendary Member
It's no wonder I've never seen anyone riding one!
Horses for courses I suppose.
The OP was talking about station to office within Edinburgh, where station staffing is unlikely to be a problem. If it was just "a mile or so " then walking would be the best bet, any further and we are talking taxis and they wouldn't take you far for £3.80.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I've used them less than half a dozen times. First time for novelty value/see what they were like, Bradford Interchange to BRI & back.

Down the valley. Where I found out you can't take it on the trains, or leave it at another station. Rules out using the local off-road cycle routes on a one way trip by bike.
 
I've only been refused entry by Scotrail once but fair enough that was for a 2 hourly Perth train which was packed when it arrived. Generally I found the Scotrail service good for bikes. For most I believe (it certainly was for me) just turn up any time and all bikes were accepted. I used to regularly take the rush hour train from Dunfermline to Edinburgh in the morning and cycle home at night and it was pretty easy to get close to the doors to the bike racks. My rationale for taking the train being lazy was to stay in bed as long as possible cycle the 1.5miles to the station without building up sweat as the office had no showers. I'd cycle the 17.5miles home less time constrained and of course get a shower there.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next

classic33

Leg End Member
Taking it on the train is probably subject to the usual restrictions but "once you have hired a bike you can return it to any participating station free of charge". Please check these sorts of details before posting - it may have changed since you were told no.
There's a rack that takes six bikes. Only when returned to the rack and locked can you hand the key in, at the station you got the bike from.

Things may change, but I'm talking less than a week since last enquiring. Don't assume, it can cause mistakes.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
I live up in East Lothian, near Edinburgh, and I sometimes take my bike on the train and into Edinburgh and cycle home on the days that I do have to work in the city. The early morning (7-9am) trains can be congested and it's always impossible to even get into the carriage that has the (inadequate) bike rack in it so I usually jump on, last, into one of the other carriages.

This has never been an issue until this morning when I was aggressively prevented from boarding a carriage by one of the conductors. I was told to head for the bike carriage but I knew I'd end up being at the doors anyway and I stated this and headed off to another carriage and boarded.

Thankfully, he never came near me so public and embarrassing slanging match was avoided. I have checked this operator's regs and there is nowhere in them that states that I cannot board a carriage that has no bike rack. I've approached the operator via their on-line complaints form so time will pass before they respond. Can I ask members here of their similar experiences and how they were resolved, if at all?


I had similar travelling into Glasgow Central from the suburbs a couple of years back. There was a carriage for bikes which had one bike already and space for about another 7 I think, but I couldn't get into it for all the people standing & reading the paper.

I checked the next two carriages and counted about 15 vacant seats where the standing passengers could be accommodated. I asked the guard to request the people use those seats to let me and another passenger with a bike board the bike carriage. He refused.

I pointed out they were needlessly taking up a resource specifically meant for cycles and that there were more than enough empty seats nearby. He still refused.

I complained to First Scotrail and got nowhere.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
There's a rack that takes six bikes. Only when returned to the rack and locked can you hand the key in, at the station you got the bike from.

Things may change, but I'm talking less than a week since last enquiring. Don't assume, it can cause mistakes.
Let me know which station told you this and I'll go ask BaG about it.
 
Let me know which station told you this and I'll go ask BaG about it.

Presumably Bradford or Halifax, then. I'm not sure why the bikes being locked and staff having the keys makes a difference to where you return them tho, and their website does seem very clear in the FAQ that you can return to a different station.

I've seen a B&G stand and a key dropbox somewhere. Hebden Bridge, maybe? I do remember reading the info board and thinking at the time that there were some things that didn't seem very useful about the way it worked, but that must have been a few years back.
 

Mr. Cow

Über Member
Location
Manchester
Looks like you can book a bike space on their website. I checked only because I know you can do it on the Scotrail site - for TPE trains!

You can only block book upto 5 days reservations. So TPE have basically stuck 2 fingers up to those with monthly/annual season tickets.
 
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